Why do we see so few butterflies in our neighborhoods? The very short answer to that question is loss of habitat. Our county is so developed we have paved over and built on much of the land. Even where we landscape, we too often are not thinking of nature when we do. With a little thought, knowledge, and effort it’s easy to garden for butterflies!

Basically, all we need is…

        - a sunny, preferably wind protected area
        - nectar rich flowers for butterflies
        - food for caterpillars
        - wet sand or puddle
        - avoiding use of pesticides

When choosing a site for a butterfly garden, it’s a good idea to place it a where you’ll be able to see it often – by a front porch or backyard deck, even an often looked out window. The flowers are beautiful and the butterflies are wonderful to watch!

Plant your butterfly attractive plants in drifts or clusters rather than individually. It’s pleasing to our eyes and it’s easier for butterflies to hone in on. Consider bloom times. You’ll want a continuous season of blooming flowers for butterflies from early spring right through to fall. Late season is especially important for migrating butterflies so they can fatten up for their trip south. Plants such as goldenrods and asters are beautiful in autumn and are butterfly magnets!

All butterflies spend part of their lives as caterpillars. Caterpillars are voracious eaters, so if we want butterflies to lay eggs in our gardens, we need to supply some plants for the caterpillars. Caterpillars don’t eat just anything, however, so don’t worry about your garden being devoured by these ‘eating machines’. Most tend to be very specific about what they will eat. Monarch caterpillars eat milkweed and Black Swallowtail caterpillars eat plants in the carrot family such as parsley and fennel, for example.

Wet sand or a mud puddle supplies minerals and nutrients and a large flat rock placed in it can serve as a nice basking area for the butterflies to warm themselves. Being insects, they are ‘cold-blooded’ and have to get their temperature up each day before they can fly.

Finally, all insecticides kill butterflies. No matter how safe or natural an insecticide claims to be, if it kills insects, it kills butterflies!

That’s really all you need to know to get started. Check out the butterfly garden and all the demonstration gardens in Eisenhower Park. You’re sure to see something new and inspiring. Help yourself to a plant list from our garden mailbox. Start a small garden with a mix of annuals and perennials the first year for instant blooms, perhaps adding more perennials as time goes by. Once you’ve created a beautiful habitat for butterflies in your garden you’ll enjoy it all season long, year after year, and so will the visiting butterflies!

A sunny location

Nectar rich flowers

Larval host plants

Wet sand or puddle

No pesticides